Hey, gang! Long time, no post. Sorry about that. I blame the fact that my provider of Strange New Worlds doesn’t have subtitles for season 2, thus killing my ability to understand the episodes – not to mention being a barrier to my awful humour!
Unfortunately, this post isn’t going to be very funny, and I’m going to be a Negative Nelly a lot in it. So, as you might be aware, I’ve been reviewing the Three Body series, as made and released by Tencent in January and February last year. It was awesome. Every day, after I got home from work, I eagerly awaited my latest dose. It was a soulful series, and being a Chinese work, it offered me a perspective that I don’t normally get to see in Whiteworld. It was, in a word, brilliant. Now, sure, it’s definitely not for everybody, but it was worth a watch.
As I’m sure you also all will be aware, Netflix will be releasing its own adaptation in March! Now, don’t get me wrong, for the most part, the trailer looks great. Just from the few scenes we’ve seen, I can tell that I’m going to enjoy younger Ye Wenjie’s performance. Her silent intensity as she works at her console, the look of confusion as her father is executed in front of her… it’s little things like that that really make you believe a performance.
So, let’s ignore the Game of Thrones elephant in the room, and talk about the little things in this trailer – as well as a sneak peak – that bother me instead. One of the things that the Tencent adaptation did so excellently was dragging you into the action. Everything was so engrossing, brilliantly brought to life, no details spared – a lot of the same things that I praise about The Expanse, funnily enough. In fact, the series added a lot of content that wasn’t present in the books, which included major expansion on the characters, turning them from what one brilliant reviewer called “tool people” into believable people.
One of those things that really dragged me in was the VR sets they had. Now, no matter what, it’s going to be a bit silly that there’s access to hyper-detailed VR in 2007, but that’s just something we’ve gotta deal with, and I think they dealt with this rather well, through these awesome rigs they used when they logged into the game.
They look awesome. A treadmill, feedback vests, haptic gloves (I think), this weird crane setup to keep the headset’s power cord out of the way so you don’t trip over and fall… it’s fucking awesome. I would absolutely believe that for a VR setup, especially today.
Another thing they did well is the game itself. After a very cool title sequence, wherein one dodges rocks that form the game’s logo (VR game devs, I hope you’re listening), and you create your character, we’re dumped into the world of Three-Body, and it’s a very strange introduction. Anachronistic references to Chinese history, strange sunrises and sunsets, it’s disorientating and immediately tells you that this is different from our world in multiple, extremely fundamental ways, and yet at the same time, through those historical references, it draws parallels to our own history, thus allowing us to get a better understanding for how “the Lord’s” world works. There was also this really interesting CG filter over the various scenes set in the game world, which I think is a very good, subtle example of Bertholt Brecht’s alienation effect – reminding us that this game world is not real, and thus allowing it to better analyse it.
Now, let’s take a look at the exclusive clip released by Netflix, showing us the audience’s first look at the Three-Body world in their adaptation…
Do you see the big, fundamental difference here? I’ll give you a hint: what the fuck is that silver abomination?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m no stranger to sci-fi, I’m well aware of all the different things it could be doing to magically fool the brain. But I don’t believe this, not in the slightest. You slip it on and you’re in the game. Not even a character generation screen, where our beloved, awful Da Shi can name himself “Stew”. Not even big, weird electrode thingies that you put on like an EEG. There’s none of that subtle alienation, where you’re quietly reminded that this is a game world. It’s the platonic ideal of a game, especially a VR game, and it sucks.
I will freely, happily admit that I’m almost certainly nitpicking. I’m well-known for that! I love nitpicking, nitpicking is my jam. But sometimes, when you pick at the right thread, it all unravels.
Now, this next concern I’m going to share with you is a lot more valid, and one that was first brought to my attention by AvenueX, a Chinese reviewer’s, video, which is linked again here for your convenience. Remembrance of Earth’s Past, and the first book in particular, The Three-Body Problem, is very Chinese. It has Chinese written all over it, quite literally in many cases, and I think this is most apparent in the story of Ye Wenjie and her experiences during the Cultural Revolution – losing her father, and being volunteered to work at the Red Coast military base, and all the cruelties endured during her time there. There’s a reality there that I don’t think a Western studio can really express in the same way, because we have such a radically different, outsider’s perspective of the events of the Cultural Revolution. Of course we see it as bad, those dirty commies took over an entire country!
Whatever arises from that part of the story, I’m not sure that it’ll be anywhere near as authentic as what we get in the Tencent series, and the books themselves. There are plenty of Western takes on the whole mess, but us Westerners so very rarely see Chinese viewpoints on the mess, so it almost feels wrong when a Chinese studio puts out this take and then Netflix comes out, screaming “LOOK AT US! WE HAVE A THING! WE HAVE A TAKE! LOOK AT OUR TAKE!”
There are a few more complaints I’d like to make, and a lot of these are going to be super nitpicky, but whatever, this is my unfiltered take, damn you!
- Why the fuck are there so many white people in the cast? The only white folks in the original books were in the World Defence Council! WHO IS JACK ROONEY!? WHERE IS WANG MIAO!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
- In a similar vein, Benedict Wong as Da Shi? Really? I mean absolutely no offence to Benedict Wong by this, I really enjoy him as an actor, but I don’t know if he has quite what’s needed to play Da Shi. Da Shi in the Tencent adaptation is just the worst, and I’m afraid that anything other than Yu Hewei is just going to disappoint.
- WHY IS SOPHON APPEARING IN THE FIRST BOOK!? THERE’S NO SOPHON HERE! GO AWAY SOPHON!
For the record, I want to be wrong. I want the Netflix adaptation to be awesome. After all, what’s better than one adaptation of a brilliant novel series, except two adaptations of a brilliant novel series (assuming they’re good adaptations)?
Well. Maybe me more consistently writing these posts is better, at the risk of tooting my own horn.
This post is dedicated to my friend, Zi, who very deeply cares about Chinese issues in media. I sincerely hope you feel heard when you read this, Zi.
This post is also dedicated to my other friend, L, who has not been my friend for a while but has apparently been reading these anyway. I hope what you’ve read in this blog has entertained you, and will continue to entertain you.
